AI-rewritten: This is a summary of an article from Positive News, rewritten by AI (Qwen, running locally) to make it easier to read. The facts come from the original article – read it for the full story.

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Dorothy Lowakutuk became one of Africa’s first female elephant keepers at Reteti, an Indigenous-owned sanctuary in north Kenya. The site is part of a movement placing local communities at the center of conservation efforts. In 2016, Lowakutuk joined the staff after studying community development and social work to help her family following her father’s death. She now works as a visitor guide and keeper, spending long nights beside sick elephants and leading them on bush walks before returning them to the wild at seven to nine years old.

Reteti was founded in 2016 by Samburu elders alongside conservationist Katie Rowe. Its board consists of 90% local community members, supported by the Sarara Foundation and partners like the Kenyan Wildlife Service. Since opening, rescuers have reunited 60 stranded calves with their mothers. Last year, the sanctuary returned 13 young elephants to the rangelands. Across the region, elephant numbers have recovered from a few hundred thirty years ago to more than 6,000 today.

The project employs 110 staff recruited from Samburu communities and utilizes 1,250 local "milk mamas" who supply over 20,000 litres of goat milk monthly. Last year, almost $342k was paid directly to Samburu women, many of whom now hold their own bank accounts. Tourism revenue funds classrooms, bursaries, and a touring Montessori school. Resson Duff from Maliasili notes that tangible gains like jobs and education give communities a lasting stake in protecting landscapes, shifting the perception of wildlife from a negative to a positive relationship.